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- Published on: 14 April 2021
- Published on: 14 April 2021Lets call EVALI what it is: THC VALI
To the editor,
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The authors of this article appear to be unaware that the cause of "EVALI" was identified almost a year ago. To quote Dr Ann Schuchat, Principal Deputy Director of CDC in December, 2019: "we can conclude that what I call the explosive outbreak of cases of EVALI can be attributed to exposure to THC-containing vaping products that also contained Vitamin E acetate." (1). This followed publication in NEJM of a study which noted that "Vitamin E acetate was identified in BAL fluid obtained from 48 of 51 case patients (94%) in 16 states but not in such fluid obtained from the healthy comparator group." It also noted that "47 of 50 (94%) had detectable tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) or its metabolites in BAL fluid or had reported vaping THC products." It is widely known that people who have become ill due to use of illicit products, such as THC vapes, do not always tell the truth about the illegal products they used. The NEJM study also reported that "9 of 11 patients who reported no use of THC-containing e-cigarette products in the 90 days before the onset of illness had detectable THC or its metabolites in their BAL fluid." These and numerous other studies have clarified that EVALI is caused by vaping THC products contaminated by vitamin E Acetate. Since the cause became clear in December 2019, identification of new cases of this disease dropped markedly, and in February 2020 CDC stopped reporting new cases. We...Conflict of Interest:
None declared.